(i) Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method.
(ii) Related Art
Methods of visualizing (developing) image information through electrostatic images such as an electrophotographic method are currently used in various fields. In such an electrophotographic method, for example, an electrostatic latent image is formed (electrostatic latent image forming step) on an electrostatic-latent-image holding body by a charging and exposing step, a toner is supplied to develop the electrostatic latent image (developing step), the toner image formed by the development is transferred onto a recording medium through or not through an intermediate transfer member (transferring step), and the resultant transfer image is fixed (fixing step). Thus, image information is visualized.
In such an electrophotographic method, when a full-color image is formed, the color is generally reproduced with a combination of three color toners (yellow, magenta, and cyan, which are the three primary colors of coloring materials) or a combination of four color toners (the three primary colors and black). In such a case, an image having a secondary color such as red is formed by stacking a yellow toner and a magenta toner in an appropriate proportion.